East Alabama Medical Center nurse Abby Smith works on a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. The medical center faces a new influx of COVID-19 patients as the pandemic intensifies. Obese patients who contract COVID-19 are 74% more likely to end up in the ICU and 48% more likely to die. Obesity is a precursor to other health conditions such as heart and lung disease, diabetes, an impaired immune system, chronic inflammation and blood that’s more likely to clot. “Add COVID-19 to that and the risk goes up even more,” Gupta said.